Initial introduction and question for members

[Tom Poirier]

Hello one and all: My name is Tom Poirier and I live with my wife in Salem NH. I am on my 2nd Nissan Leaf, this "newest" edition being a 2021 Nissan Leaf SV Plus which provides an ample range up to 240 miles during these warmer months. Needless to say (but I will), I am an enthusiast.

Up to now, I have been a passive observer but I wanted to put this out there for comment and feedback. Although I would choose otherwise, my home and 2 autos are insured with State Farm. Auto insurance rates and, frankly, almost ALL insurance rates go up regularly. This renewal period, the Nissan Leaf's rate increased even more so than our other vehicle, an ICE SUV. When I drilled for further info, I was told by a SF agent that this would be so because "EV replacement parts have increased dramatically". Say what?? As we in the EV community know, there are FAR less moving parts in an EV and, one would think, less parts to replace in the event of an accident.
I intend to do my homework, here, to see if there is any veracity in these statement. I DID have an accident with my prior Leaf and it was totaled. I, somehow, think there may be a connection here. After all, insurance is also about risk. Comments welcome.

 

[BillAinCT]

One point that does back them up is that the LED headlamp is $2400 to replace. I know this from the jaw drop at the repair shop and hearing him say that almost doubled the cost of the repair. Poor college girl backed into me and her Dad wanted to pay out of pocket until he saw the $5800 estimate.

 

[Drew21]

I always assumed that auto insurance pricing was based on my driving record, with the vague idea that safer driving should result in lower rates, whereas tickets and accidents would result in higher rates.

I now have (gasp!) almost 30 years of legal driving behind me plus several years on the farm before that with zero citations or accidents. My dual-citizen Australian wife has 10 years of driving on a US license, again with zero citations or accidents, yet our rates have also gone up quite a bit in recent years. Same thing with our home insurance rates.

The insurance companies are in business to make money, just like any other business. Someone has to pay for all accidents caused by uninsured motorists and all the vehicles and property damaged/destroyed in increasingly common natural disasters. Surprise, surprise, that's you and me. When I called my insurance company (Geico) they basically said that I was free to shop around. I couldn't find anything else cheaper so I guess it is what it is, as the kids say.

I was talking about this with a coworker recently and his contention was that the insurance company probably considers me a high risk for an accident precisely because I've never had one and dumb luck would suggest that it's my turn. True? No idea.

 

[Steelcity]

Hey Tom, welcome. Best way to compare is to shop around. On my 13 leaf,9 bars,85,000 and just liability I pay $255 a year. I was paying higher a few years ago and complained to my broker and he shopped us around and saved us over 40%. Loyalty sometimes amounts to higher rates.

 

[danelo]

Like others mentioned always shop around at least every two years. They get you in cheap, then raise the rates hoping you are not paying attention.

My 6 month renewal on my two cars went down, about 10%. Just a standard decrease, not due to tickets or accidents coming off my driving record. Hopefully this will be a trend in the insurance industry as a whole.

 

[Tom Poirier]

Hey Tom, welcome. Best way to compare is to shop around. On my 13 leaf,9 bars,85,000 and just liability I pay $255 a year. I was paying higher a few years ago and complained to my broker and he shopped us around and saved us over 40%. Loyalty sometimes amounts to higher rates.

Thanks, Steelcity. Something tells me you just might be located in Pittsburgh or WAS. Yeah, I shopped around and found what others have that Drew21 has discovered. Insurance companies won't lose and rates continue to rise unabated. We wanted to go with a mutual insurance company because they are more pro policyholder and in it for the long term. Many of them, like Geico (#1) and State Farm (#2) don't invest with fossil fuel companies which, of course, many of us climate-minded EV drivers might prefer. For us, we dropped Rental coverage because we are retired and able to get by without it. This has brought our premium down to what it was last year.